Dream Water Wonderland

The title Dream Water Wonderland refers to the nuclear fast-breeder reactor in Kalkar (Germany), which was completed, but never went online. Today, its cooling tower houses a chair-o-plane that forms part of an amusement park.

This video sculpture comprises two Plexiglass cabinets, stacked one on top of the other in a steel shelf and a video projection. The upper part houses a record player from the 70s. From its center spindle grow plastic icicles and, extending downwards, rotating like a radar, projects a scale model of the 'Asse II mine', the mine that was used as the disposal site for radioactive waste. The video that is projected onto the opaque back wall shows a short shot of the cooling tower from the outside, painted with a pictorial representation of a mountain range. In a second shot, the camera flies along with the seats of the chair-o-plane skirting the inside of the concrete wall of the cooling tower, occasionally catching glimpses of the sky.

An off-screen voice tells a story about wanting to catch a bird, but, as in a dream, the logic of the story gets lost. Constantly, far in the background, we hear the echoing sound of children’s voices. In spite of their disparate themes, the record player with the outgrowth, the cool look of the black and white video and the surreal background track all melt together into a convincing whole. (Georg Elben)